The Fool Is The Victim Here
by Kioku-no-Umi
Summary: Kuronue got his second chance at life, and believed that things between him and his friend hadn't changed... But boy, was he wrong.


Kuronue continued to hear the words the kitsune had spoken, over and over  
again in his mind, even though the conversation had happened over two days ago.

His amethyst eyes seemed to be permanently focused on the grass below his  
feet. Individual blades moving from side to side as the midafternoon breeze  
courted them to dance.

***

_"I'm sorry," Kurama said in an almost eerie calm manner, looking Kuronue__  
__straight in the eyes. "This just won't work."___

_Kuronue's hands clenched into fists. "What do you mean it won't work?__  
__You've known me for years, Kurama! Are you willing to just throw all of it away now?"___

_The redhead shut his eyes for a brief moment, the perfect oppurtunity to__  
__calm down his breathing - had it been erratic. But this pause was taken__  
__so the fox could figure out the best way to put this without beating around the bush.___

_"Kuronue, please try to understand," Kurama began, fighting against the urge__  
__to keep his mouth shut and not continue this conversation. "I'm not the same__  
__Kurama that you knew... I've changed. You should be able to see this."___

_"What does that matter?" Kuronue asked, eyes narrowing. "This change isn't__  
__that great! If it were, you wouldn't have so easily accepted my return those__  
__few years ago!"___

_This definitely wasn't an easy conversation for the fox to have with his__  
__former right hand man, his former partner, his confidant, his closest friend...___

_But this needed to be said.___

_"I'm no longer living in the past," Kurama added. "I'm moving on. No longer__  
__am I Youko Kurama, the King of Thieves - the infamous fox of the Makai. I...__  
__I am accepting my new life in the human world and the identity that goes along__  
__with it... I'm Shuuichi Minamino now."___

_"You can change your name a thousand times," Kuronue shouted, anger__  
__mixing and mingling with the let down feeling he had. "You could also__  
__change your appearance just as many times, if not more, but you'd__  
__still be the same Kurama I knew back then! You'll still be you, no__  
__matter what you do! It's impossible to just throw away your past, Kurama, because__  
__it will always be with you! It's a part of who you are!"___

_Feeling a prick of irritation getting to him, Kurama turned on his__  
__heels so that his back now faced Kuronue. "I'm sorry, Kuro.. what you__  
__want, I can't give you. I'll forever value our friendship, but, there__  
__is no way that I can return your sentiment."___

_Those words were almost too difficult to say, but they would have__  
__been even more so had he been looking at Kuronue. He knew this, which__  
__is exactly why he turned away. When his friend said nothing, Kurama__  
__had to assume that there was nothing left to be said. Without uttering__  
__a farewell, the fox walked away; and that was that._

***

Kneeling down, balling his right hand into a fist, the former thief  
punched the ground with enough force that if he was human, he would have  
broken several bones in his hand.

"That bastard," Kuronue muttered, gritting his teeth. "He's a fool to think  
that he can just leave the past behind like that. Especially because he  
hasn't changed much... can't return the sentiment, what a load of crap."

The fox couldn't return it back then, before or after the winged  
demon's death, and he still couldn't return it now that he was alive once again.

Leaning back a bit so that he now sat on the grass, Kuronue started to  
laugh. "Or maybe I'm the fool."

If he didn't have the self control that he did, Kuronue would have  
started to cry right then and there. But he wasn't going to do  
that; crying showed weakness, and there wasn't any way in hell he  
was going to be percieved as weak. He had worked too hard for blemish  
like that to pour through the cracks now and ruin everything.

"Maybe it's time to move on," He whispered, taking this moment to  
look up at the sky; the brilliant blues and whites greeting his eyes.  
"Time to stop letting misery pick away at me day after day..."

He waited there, in that spot, until the blue sky shifted hues and  
he could barely see his boots atop the ground. Making his way to the  
streets so that he now had the bright neon lights of signs to guide  
him, Kuronue started the long journey of moving on. But unlike his  
former kitsune partner, the past wasn't so easily shoved aside.

That imperfection of his heart, that hole that was made all of those  
years ago, wasn't ever going to go away. It would only continue to  
slowly expand until the damage was too great and his heart would  
refuse to beat or until the numbness that started to wash over now  
him made him stop caring about anything.

And Kuronue had a feeling that a third option would arrive just a  
smidge too late.


End file.
